Guatemala site of major Olympics announcement

Guatemala City is serving as the site of a reunion being attended by several heads of state like Russia’s Vladimir Putin, but it’s not a political summit or economic negotiations. Rather, it will be from there that the winning city of the 2014 Winter Olympics will be announced on Wednesday.

The winning bid will be chosen from three finalists, none of which are from the Americas: Sochi, Russia, Salzburg, Austria, and Pyeongchang, South Korea. According to one source, the main issue will be choosing between economics and sports:

“Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Zhukov said that the massive bid costs estimated at more than 40 million dollars (almost 30 million euros) were no problem because "we see it as an economic bid.”

At the low end of the spectrum is the Austria's Salzburg, whose estimated 13 million dollars for the bid is modest…The Austrians say they have what money can't buy: a beautiful alpine setting, venues which have seen hundreds of World Cup events and major championships, and a long tradition as a passionate winter sport nation.”

Of the three final bids only Austria has previously hosted a Winter Olympics (Innsbruck in 1964 and 1976).

Sources- ESPN, Reuters, Jumalo, Wikipedia

Image- ESPN (According to the photo’s caption “Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer greets students at an Austrian school in Guatemala City, Monday, July 2, 2007)